Steam-cooker for oil-bearing meal and the like.



A; w. FRENCH 4 n on. BEARING MEAL' AND THE LIKE.'

Patented Jan. 12, 1909.

s'rnm cooxn ro APrLxoATIoN FILED un. 23. moa.

2 snnMs-'sxnnjr 1.

ALFRED W. FRENCH, F PIQUA, OHIO.v

STEAM-COOKER FOR OIL-BEARING MEAL AND To all whom it ymay concern:

Be 'it known that I, ALFRED W. FRENCH, a

"citizen of the United States, residing at Piqua, in the county of Miami and State of Ohio, haie invented a new and useful Im rovement in Steam-Cookers for Oil-Bearing Deal and the Like, of which the followinv is a specification.

of meal therein.

' hisinvention relates to steam cookers or kcttles of the kin'tl used in oi'l mills for cooking the oil bearing meal preparatory-to.ex` pressing the oil therefrom, and more particularly to improvements in continuous automatic cookers of the sort disclosed in U. S. Letters Patent No. 852,058, granted to me April 30, 1907. In the said patented cooker aplurality of superimposed steam kettles are employed provided with bottom discharge openings so arranged that the meal discharges by gravity from each kettle to the one next below, and the delivery of meal to a kettle is controlled by the quantity WVhen meal is withdrawn from the lowest kettle to form a cake for ressing, the lei'el of the meal lowers in this ettle, which allows a corresponding amount of meal to discharge therein from the kettle next above and lower the vlevel of meal in this second kettle, and in a similar manner the discharge of meal from each kettle causes a corresponding quantity of lneal to be ldelivered thereto from the kettle next above. Meal is fed to the top kettle automatically by, suitable means, and when all the kettles have once been filled the 'quantity of meal i n each kettle is kept substantially constant by the stated operation of the cooker, and as the meal is delivered into the top and discharged from the bottom of each kettle and is not mixed but descends through thesystem in layers, a definite period of time, determined by the rate at -Which the meal is drawn from the bottom One object of the present invention is tov provide novel means whereby a similar continuous automatic action of the cooker is obtained without requiring the discharge opening of one kettle to depend into the kettle next below, as they do in the patented kettle. Other objects of the invention arc to pro` Specication of LettersPatent. pacman med prix 2s, 190s. serial No. aaa-asv.y

TBE m.

duce a `steam cooker in which the several kettles can be arranged directly over and upon each other-without the usual space'required between the kettles for the escape of the moisture driven off from the meal, whereby the construction of the cooker' is simplified and it occupies the minimum ver-y tical and floor s ace; and also to improve steam cookers o claims.

I-n the accompanying drawings, consisting of two sheets: Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a continuous steam cooker embodying the invention.` Fig. 2 is a fragmentary Patented am. 1a; i909.

this sort in the respects hereinafter described and -set forth vin the sectional elevation. thereof, lin line,'2-2, 1 `ig."r 1. Fig. 3 1s a sectional elevation of a cooker" of modified construction. mentary sectional plan View thereof, inline lr-4, Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a fragmentary transverse sectional elevation thereof, on an env largedscale, in line 5 5, Fig. 4, showing the manner 14n which the meal in one kettle controls the delivery of meal thereto from the/8o kettle next above. Fig. (i is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional elevation thereof, in line 6 6, Fig. alarm device used in the first kettle.

Like letters of reference refer to like parts xFig. 7 is a detail of the arranged one above the other, so that the meal can flow by gravity through a dis-' charge opening a in the bottom of one kettle 'into the next kettle below. /n the preferred construction, shown 'in/Figs. 1 and 2, thekettlcs A are arranged one directly over and upon the other, with the bottom ot' one kettle forming the top of the one next below, but:r

this arrangement is not essential to the automatic discharging action of the kcttles and they can be diii'erently arranged, forpin-l stance, as shown in Figs. 3 and il, the kettles are arranged 1n a stepped Series with .that portion of the botoin of one kettle containing the discharge opening overlapping the kettle next below. The discharge opens ing of each kettle, except the bottom one, preferably extends nearly from the edge to the center of the kettle so that the meal will discharge from thc central as well ,asthe outerportion of tliekettle. l'lorizontallysliding gates ya are provided for the discharge openings, the gates extending ont through the sides of the kettles. shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the gates are pref- In the const rnct ion- 'a shoi't distance into one kettle from the botsponding quantity of meal to Ydischarge kettle can restdirectly upon the top #of the erably operated by toothed racks a2 and pinions a.

Any suitable number of the kettles may be employed. Four are shown in each of the cookers illustrated.

Each kettle has a hollow bottom a* forming a steam chamber which is supplied with steam by usual means (not shown) for cooking or heating the meal, and the two upper kettles are preferably Shallower' than the others and, 1n the cooker shown in Figs. l and 2, are provided with hollow or jacketed side walls ai also supplied with steam.I

Each kettle is provided with the usual rotary stir-rer or scraper B consisting of arms projecting horizontally in the bottom of the kettle from a central vertical shaft. The stirrers scrape the bottoms of the kettles, so as to keep the lower portion of the meal in motion and prevent it' from being scorched, and move it to the discharge openlugs.

C represents bailles or dams which depend tom of the kettle next above, one side of thedischarge opening of the.. latter. .The dam or baille may be of various construcg tions.` As shown, it consists of spaced depending' fingers -secured in place in any suita ble manner, aiid it is located at one side or the other of the discharge opening, depending upon the direction of rotation of the stirrer in the kettle into which it depends,w` for the dam should be at that side of the opening which-islast passed by the stirrers. l The stirrers, in rotating through or under the masses of meal -inY the kettles', produce 5 wave-1..:e formations or ridges of meal countering the dams, cause the meal in one kettle to pile up against the dam so as to choke orr close the discharge opening in the kettle next above, as indicated in Fig. 5, and prevent the discharge of meal through said opening. l`hc stirrers also cause a sluggish rotaryr movement of the meal in the kettles so that the dams, in ell'ect', rake or drag over the upper surface of the meal, which assists in piling the meal up in the discharge Openings. ln this manner` when the meal rises in one kettle to a level slightly above the lower edge of the dam therein, it will stop the delivery of lneal thereto from the next kettle ab'ive until. a quantity of meal drawn from the bottom kettle, which acts to lower the level therein and permit a correthereinto frein the next higher kettle, the discharge from which allows a correspondingdischargefrom the next kettle and so on through the series'. Thus the bottom of one kettle below it and the feed of the meal fronr .in the edges of the kettle bottoms.

of the moisture rising from themeal, the-A holes being conveniently formed by recesses valves e of any suitable sort may be provided for the vent holes D. These holes are stifliciently large and numerous to-allow the` escape of moisture when the meal is rela` tles, and the bottom of the top kettlealso heats the top portion of the meal in the see- ,ond'kettle so that the meal is quickly raised to the necessaryv cooking temperature in these two kettles. The steam pressure on the lower kettles is much less than on the upper ones,

' it, being only necessary to retain the meal at the temperature given 1t 1n the twoA upper kettlesand allow it to cook by its own heat.

2 As tlielower kettles are of larger capacity which 'project above the nfeneral level of the f` meal in the several kettIes andfollow the i' -st'irrer arms, and these waves or ridges, en g than the upper ones, it requires longer for each portion of meal -to pass through these Gates or vso kettles, and the meal is therefore cooked slowly in these kettles at a moderate heat,v

for a longer time than it can be kept in the greater heat of the upper kettles, which results in thoroughly softening the oil cells of the meal so that they will more readily `give up theinoil under pressure,.without:

either driving o' the necessary moisture or scorching or discoloriug the meal. The' Ilong slow cooking of the meal also coagulates the albumen 1n the meal so that the meal will iis .Y

not, creep in the press and burst tlie press t cloths, as it does when cooked more rapidly.

The described cooker therefore, besides being automatic in its action and dispensing 1S F with the services.v of a skilled' meal cook, also improes the meal, which results 1n an 1nci'eased yield of oiland a higher grade of both the oil 'and the cake.

tion of the cooker is substantially like that.' vof the other cooker shown in Figs. l and 2.

Meal -is fed to the top kettle by suitable means, and a device is preferably employed to give warning whenever the mea falls below a predetermined level more meal can be supplied to maintain the required quantity of meal in the kettle. The

device shown for this purpose, in Figs. 3

and 7, consists of a late I hinged in the ,upper portion of the ettle so as to ride on therein, so that l,

"the surface of the meal and be deflected or' held in an inclined position'by the motion of the meal in the kettle. A contact arm z' connected to the late is adapted to engage a. contact i', Fig. and close an electric cir cuit including an alarm, when the meal lowers suiciently in the kettle to allow the plate'to assume a vertical position to thereby sound the alarm. An other' suitable signal device controlled by t ie motion of the meal in the kettle and serving to indicate the level' Vof the meal could be used.

I claim as my invention: 1. The combination of a plurality of heating kettles or chambers for solid material varrangcd in a descending series and each kettle except the last havin a bottom discharge opening arranged to ischarge into a lower kettle, and means in each kettle eX- cept the .irst which causethe' material in said kettle to pile up under the discharge e `opening of the next higherkettle above t general level of said material and stop the discharge of the material from said last mentioned kettle to regulate the quantity of xfnatei-ialin the kettles, substantially as set orth.

`2. The combination of a plurality of heating kettles or chambers for solid material arranged in a descending series and each 40 kettle except 'the last having a bottom discharge openingr arranged to discharge' the material into a lower kettle, traveling Stirrers in said kettles, anda dam which depends into the upper portion of each kettle except the first below the discharge openinv in the kettle next above and against whic dam said stirrer causes the material in said kettle in which the dam is located to pile up under said dischar e opening and stop the discharge of' material therefrom to regulate the quantity of material in the kettles, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of a plurality of heat,-y ing kettles or chambers for solid material arranged one over and closing the other, matically to regulate the discharge of material in said kettles and preventing the mal l l upon the application of Alfred W. French, ot' APiqua., .Steam-Cookers 'for Oil-Bearing Meal and the Like, errors appear in Vthe printed terial from rising in one kettle to the bottom of the kettle next above, and vent holes in the upper portions of said kettles for the escape of moisture, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination of a plurality of heating kettles,y or chambers for solid material arranged one directly on top of and covering the other, means which operate automatically to regulate` the discharge of material from one kettle to the kettle next below to govern the quantity of material in the several kettles except the first, said kettles having covered man holes in the sides thereof which afford access to said kettles, substantially as set forth.

`5. The combination of a heating kettle for solid material, means which cause a horizontal motion of the material in the kettle, and a movable indicating device which rides on the surface of the material and is held inactive by the motion of the materihl in the kettle and c-yerates a signal when the material falls below a predetermined level in the kettle, substantially as set forth. e

lVitness my hand, this 21st day of April, 1908.

ALFRED W. FRENCH.

Witnesses:

C. WV. PARKER, C. B. Hmmm-lex.

Ohio, for'an improvement in specification requiring correction, as follows: In lines 56-57, page 3, the words matically to regulate the discharge of materialA in said kettles should be stricken out" Corrections ln Letters Patent No. 909,778.

and the following inserted instead: .means for regulating the pmzntiig,w of material 'in mid'. kettlea: and that the said Letters Patent should be readl with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office. I Signed and sealed this 9th day of February, A. 11,1909? [sean] C. C. BILLIN GS,

' Acting Oomvvnisioner of Patents.

Meal -is fed to the top kettle by suitable means, and a device is preferably employed to give warning whenever the mea falls below a predetermined level more meal can be supplied to maintain the required quantity of meal in the kettle. The

device shown for this purpose, in Figs. 3

and 7, consists of a late I hinged in the ,upper portion of the ettle so as to ride on therein, so that l,

"the surface of the meal and be deflected or' held in an inclined position'by the motion of the meal in the kettle. A contact arm z' connected to the late is adapted to engage a. contact i', Fig. and close an electric cir cuit including an alarm, when the meal lowers suiciently in the kettle to allow the plate'to assume a vertical position to thereby sound the alarm. An other' suitable signal device controlled by t ie motion of the meal in the kettle and serving to indicate the level' Vof the meal could be used.

I claim as my invention: 1. The combination of a plurality of heating kettles or chambers for solid material varrangcd in a descending series and each kettle except the last havin a bottom discharge opening arranged to ischarge into a lower kettle, and means in each kettle eX- cept the .irst which causethe' material in said kettle to pile up under the discharge e `opening of the next higherkettle above t general level of said material and stop the discharge of the material from said last mentioned kettle to regulate the quantity of xfnatei-ialin the kettles, substantially as set orth.

`2. The combination of a plurality of heating kettles or chambers for solid material arranged in a descending series and each 40 kettle except 'the last having a bottom discharge openingr arranged to discharge' the material into a lower kettle, traveling Stirrers in said kettles, anda dam which depends into the upper portion of each kettle except the first below the discharge openinv in the kettle next above and against whic dam said stirrer causes the material in said kettle in which the dam is located to pile up under said dischar e opening and stop the discharge of' material therefrom to regulate the quantity of material in the kettles, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of a plurality of heat,-y ing kettles or chambers for solid material arranged one over and closing the other, matically to regulate the discharge of material in said kettles and preventing the mal l l upon the application of Alfred W. French, ot' APiqua., .Steam-Cookers 'for Oil-Bearing Meal and the Like, errors appear in Vthe printed terial from rising in one kettle to the bottom of the kettle next above, and vent holes in the upper portions of said kettles for the escape of moisture, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination of a plurality of heating kettles,y or chambers for solid material arranged one directly on top of and covering the other, means which operate automatically to regulate` the discharge of material from one kettle to the kettle next below to govern the quantity of material in the several kettles except the first, said kettles having covered man holes in the sides thereof which afford access to said kettles, substantially as set forth.

`5. The combination of a heating kettle for solid material, means which cause a horizontal motion of the material in the kettle, and a movable indicating device which rides on the surface of the material and is held inactive by the motion of the materihl in the kettle and c-yerates a signal when the material falls below a predetermined level in the kettle, substantially as set forth. e

lVitness my hand, this 21st day of April, 1908.

ALFRED W. FRENCH.

Witnesses:

C. WV. PARKER, C. B. Hmmm-lex.

Ohio, for'an improvement in specification requiring correction, as follows: In lines 56-57, page 3, the words matically to regulate the discharge of materialA in said kettles should be stricken out" Corrections ln Letters Patent No. 909,778.

and the following inserted instead: .means for regulating the pmzntiig,w of material 'in mid'. kettlea: and that the said Letters Patent should be readl with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office. I Signed and sealed this 9th day of February, A. 11,1909? [sean] C. C. BILLIN GS,

' Acting Oomvvnisioner of Patents.

Corrections m Letters Patent No. 909,778.

i Itis hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 909,778, granted January 12, 1909, l upon the application of Alfred W. French, of Piqua, Ohio, for an improvement in Steam-Cookers for Oil-Bearing Meal and the Like, errors appear in the printcd specification requiring correction, as follows: In lines 56417, page 3, the words mati ically to regulate the discharge of material in said kettles should be stricken ont l and the following inserted instead:

keulen; and that the said Letters Patent should be rcml with these corrections) therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Oce.

Signed and sealed this 9th day of February, A. D., 1909.

C. C. BILLINGS,

Acting Commisuncr of Patents,

[einen] means for regulating the uantity of material in mid 

